By Min Ni Kyaw - Jun 18, 2025
#Letter
We’d like to share about some employees from New Plus factory.
A new mechanic recently arrived—he’s Chinese. He says machines should first be fixed by the Myanmar technicians whenever a breaks down. Call him only if they can’t fix it. But it doesn’t go smoothly when he does fix machines. The machines frequently break down. He just threw his anger on the machine by damaging it when he can’t properly fix them.
Aren’t machine swers supposed to stand nearby when the machine is being repaired, waiting? But the line supervisors question us—“Why are you just standing there?” They say we should be working. How are we supposed to sew when there’s no working machine? It’s not like they haven’t seen the machine being repaired.
We’re on a piece-rate system, so we want the machines repaired quickly so we can get back to sewing. But then supervisors start bossing us around—we don’t even know if it's abuse or pressure. All we know is they talk down to us. We have pride too. It’s humiliating and uncomfortable. We really feel pressured.
The factory runs on a piece-rate system. The more we sew the more we earn. But the office tells us that they’ll end up paying us 50,000 or even 100,000 kyats in piece-rate wages if we sew too much. That’s why they tell us not to sew more than the quota. They told that to department supervisor and line leader.
The factory will end up paying us for doing nothing if we finish too early and there’s no work the next day. That’s what they’re afraid of and that’s why they tell us to not exceed the quota
But why even have a piece-rate system if they don’t want us to sew too much? Why not just give us fixed daily wages? We’re just trying to earn our living.
There are three kinds of cleaners in this factory—line cleaners, general sanitation staff who clean bathrooms and such, and office cleaners.
But among them, the office cleaners are something else. They take over security staff duties. Sometimes they question the security team about how they do their checks. Should they even be commanding the security guards regarding the latter’s job?
The attitude and posture of some of these office cleaners is harsh and condescending. We workers feel like we’re being investigated by them more than by actual security. It’s like they’re watching us more seriously than anyone else. We can’t take that as we believe mutual respect is a must in a workplace.
We feel pressured. We feel like we don’t even know our place anymore.
We don’t differentiate between cleaning staff and security. We respect everyone’s role.
We don’t go to WCC (Workplace Coordination Committee) anymore. We already know it’s ineffective. Putting suggestion notes in the complaint box doesn’t help. We’re just wasting our breath.
WCC is supposed to represent workers, but they seem like they just follow whatever the factory wants. WCC is only a name now.
We just want the relevant authorities to know what’s happening. Thank you, Myanmar Labour News.
